Aussie school boy tipped as next 'Usain Bolt'

An Aussie schoolboy has been hailed as the next 'Usain Bolt', according to a report.

James Gallaugher, 12, an indigenous schoolboy from the NSW south coast town of Ulladulla has been tipped as having the potential to be "the greatest sprinter we have ever had".

His athletics coach Scott Richardson, who is himself a three-times national age champion who won a Pan Pacific Games gold medal, said of his charge: "He is a freak and I mean that in the very best way", News.com.au reports.

"When I talk about him with my wife and my family, we just say he is going to be the greatest sprinter we have ever had if he keeps improving at the rate which he is," Richardson said.

According to the report, Gallaugher has run down a 20 metre gap to win the 4x100m New South Wales primary schools championship.

When he took the baton he was 20 metres behind the lead boy but within a few seconds of leaving the blocks he began to power up the track, easily overtaking other boys and then powering past to win the race, the report said.

He ran 100m in 11.72 seconds, faster than any time recorded in the U.S or Australia for his age group, and has already attracted the interest of talent scouts with the Michael Johnson Spire Athletics Institute in Ohio making contact, the report added.

"They said they are more than willing to have him go to school there or attend a training camp. I think he is too young to go to school over there so we are going to send him over in July next year for a training camp," his mother Samara said. (ANI)